The track is ‘Street Lights’ and over a slow, dank beat it recounts a late night confrontation in Jo’Burg. Ninja and Yolandi are rolling home after a night out, let their guard down and get mugged. They hand over their phones, but the muggers want more. As Yolandi gets dragged off into the dark, Ninja loses his shit and in the resulting scuffle one of the muggers dies. The others run off into the dark.

When he says ‘There’s gonna be blood on the streets tonight’ it’s not a boast, it’s a lamentation.

Sadly, in South Africa, this sort of thing is not uncommon. The rate of violence, and in particular, sexual violence, in the country is amongst the highest in the world. As professor Pumla Dineo Gqol points out in her book, Rape: A South African Nightmare, a history of violence and dispossession has bred a toxic masculinity in the country.

In ‘Street Lights’ there is none of Ninja’s usual braggadocio. Rather there is a despairing resignation about how things are going to go down. Violence begets violence. Situations can turn deadly very easily and very quickly. When he says ‘There’s gonna be blood on the streets tonight’ it’s not a boast, it’s a lamentation.

‘In Africa,’ Yolandi sings, ‘everything is broken.’

It’s heavy, thought-provoking – even depressing. I reckon it’s the best track on the album.

If you prefer Die Antwoord when they are more cartoonish and outlandish, fear not. You’ll find a nine-year-old boy rapping about wanting wings on his penis on Track 6.

About the Author

Hondo My name is Peter Moore and I'm an author by trade. I’m not a purist. I’m not an expert. But I love all kinds of African music. If it moves me – or makes me want to move – I’ll write about it here.